WIP: The Missing Link? Providing Honors Students a Self-Paced Assignment That Fits Their Needs

Aysa Galbraith; Heath Aren Schluterman; Gretchen Scroggin; Latisha Puckett

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: First-Year Programs Division WIPS 1: Projects, Teams, and Portfolios
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs Division (FYP)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48319

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Paper Authors

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Aysa Galbraith University of Arkansas

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Dr. Aysa Galbraith is a Teaching Associate Professor in the First-Year Engineering Program at the University of Arkansas. She received her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Chemical and Biomolecular Department at North Carolina State University in 2006. She is responsible for coordinating the First-Year Honors Research Experience, teaching Introduction to Engineering, developing course material, and advising freshmen engineering students.

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Heath Aren Schluterman University of Arkansas

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Dr. Heath Schluterman is a Teaching Associate Professor and the Coordinator for the First-Year Engineering Program at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Schluterman completed his B.S. and Ph.D in Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas

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Gretchen Scroggin University of Arkansas

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Latisha Puckett University of Arkansas

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Abstract

The university has a strong Honors College that has the mission to help students become leaders with intellectual, economic, cultural, and ethical impact in the widest scope of fields. The College of Engineering at this university supports this mission by providing a flexible and interdisciplinary honors curriculum that fosters creative and critical thinking and inspires action. The First-Year Engineering Program contributes to this mission by offering Honors versions of the two required first-year engineering courses: Honors Introduction to Engineering I and Honors Introduction to Engineering II.

We prioritize maintaining high standards for our honors students in our classes. We want to ensure that the course is sufficiently challenging to warrant honors credit hours, despite being a one credit hour course. However, we also recognize the need for a balanced workload and aim to avoid overwhelming our students. To strike a balance, we have modified the honors requirements of the course for fall 2023. The purpose of this paper is to share these modifications and student feedback, aiming to provide valuable ideas for those seeking similar approaches in their own classrooms.

The Introduction to Engineering courses have always been offered with the honors and regular students in the same classroom, going through the same material, and taking the same exams. However, honors students are required to do extra work to obtain the honors credit. In the past semesters, we used the following formats for extra work: additional problems assigned only to honors students in certain subjects, creating a quad chart related to the short hands-on projects, and delivering a 3-5 minute presentation related to the long hands-on class project. While this extra work has been mostly sufficient, we have made many improvements to our course content and delivery methods this semester, and we believe that there was room for improvement in the honors only assignments.

LinkedIn Learning is a popular online learning platform that offers a wide range of courses and tutorials on various topics, such as business, technology, creative skills, and more. The university provides LinkedIn Learning at no cost to all university members, and our faculty members have been using LinkedIn Learning modules in other courses. This fall semester, honors students in Introduction to Engineering I course are required to complete a LinkedIn Learning path and obtain their certificate. Each Learning path contains multiple courses. Each course consists of multiple videos with quizzes. In September, the students were required to choose one of four Learning paths: Option 1- Improve Your Teamwork Skills, Option 2 - Professional Soft Skills, Option 3 - Getting Started with Microsoft Office 365, and Option 4 - Develop Critical Thinking, Decision-Making, and Problem-Solving Skills. We created copies of the quizzes in the Learning Paths on our learning management system, Blackboard, so that we can keep track of student progress and set milestone due dates for students. Students were highly encouraged to keep these due dates, but they are allowed to complete their path by December 3. All students were required to complete a reflection and survey once they complete their LinkedIn Learning Path.

In Fall 2023, we offered 13 sections of the Introduction to Engineering I course. 185 honors first-year engineering students enrolled in Honors Introduction to Engineering I course and were required to complete the LinkedIn Learning pathway. 157 of these students responded to the feedback survey. The responses of the LinkedIn Learning Pathways as honors credit have been quite promising. With 87% of students successfully earning LinkedIn Certificates and more positive responses than negative, it's evident that the students found the pathways meaningful and relevant to their educational and professional goals in some way. A considerable number of students expressed interest in exploring LinkedIn Learning Pathways for other subjects and as honors credit in the spring. We also received feedback from students on what other topics would be a good option for future semesters. Our plan is to find other relevant LinkedIn Learning Pathways to expand the number of options for students. We will continue to make enhancements on the delivery method to maximize the benefits of these LinkedIn Learning pathways for students.

Citation
Format

Galbraith, A., & Schluterman, H. A., & Scroggin, G., & Puckett, L. (2024, June), WIP: The Missing Link? Providing Honors Students a Self-Paced Assignment That Fits Their Needs Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48319

TY - CPAPER
AB - The university has a strong Honors College that has the mission to help students become leaders with intellectual, economic, cultural, and ethical impact in the widest scope of fields. The College of Engineering at this university supports this mission by providing a flexible and interdisciplinary honors curriculum that fosters creative and critical thinking and inspires action. The First-Year Engineering Program contributes to this mission by offering Honors versions of the two required first-year engineering courses: Honors Introduction to Engineering I and Honors Introduction to Engineering II.

We prioritize maintaining high standards for our honors students in our classes. We want to ensure that the course is sufficiently challenging to warrant honors credit hours, despite being a one credit hour course. However, we also recognize the need for a balanced workload and aim to avoid overwhelming our students. To strike a balance, we have modified the honors requirements of the course for fall 2023. The purpose of this paper is to share these modifications and student feedback, aiming to provide valuable ideas for those seeking similar approaches in their own classrooms.

The Introduction to Engineering courses have always been offered with the honors and regular students in the same classroom, going through the same material, and taking the same exams. However, honors students are required to do extra work to obtain the honors credit. In the past semesters, we used the following formats for extra work: additional problems assigned only to honors students in certain subjects, creating a quad chart related to the short hands-on projects, and delivering a 3-5 minute presentation related to the long hands-on class project. While this extra work has been mostly sufficient, we have made many improvements to our course content and delivery methods this semester, and we believe that there was room for improvement in the honors only assignments.

LinkedIn Learning is a popular online learning platform that offers a wide range of courses and tutorials on various topics, such as business, technology, creative skills, and more. The university provides LinkedIn Learning at no cost to all university members, and our faculty members have been using LinkedIn Learning modules in other courses. This fall semester, honors students in Introduction to Engineering I course are required to complete a LinkedIn Learning path and obtain their certificate. Each Learning path contains multiple courses. Each course consists of multiple videos with quizzes. In September, the students were required to choose one of four Learning paths: Option 1- Improve Your Teamwork Skills, Option 2 - Professional Soft Skills, Option 3 - Getting Started with Microsoft Office 365, and Option 4 - Develop Critical Thinking, Decision-Making, and Problem-Solving Skills. We created copies of the quizzes in the Learning Paths on our learning management system, Blackboard, so that we can keep track of student progress and set milestone due dates for students. Students were highly encouraged to keep these due dates, but they are allowed to complete their path by December 3. All students were required to complete a reflection and survey once they complete their LinkedIn Learning Path.

In Fall 2023, we offered 13 sections of the Introduction to Engineering I course. 185 honors first-year engineering students enrolled in Honors Introduction to Engineering I course and were required to complete the LinkedIn Learning pathway. 157 of these students responded to the feedback survey. The responses of the LinkedIn Learning Pathways as honors credit have been quite promising. With 87% of students successfully earning LinkedIn Certificates and more positive responses than negative, it&#39;s evident that the students found the pathways meaningful and relevant to their educational and professional goals in some way. A considerable number of students expressed interest in exploring LinkedIn Learning Pathways for other subjects and as honors credit in the spring. We also received feedback from students on what other topics would be a good option for future semesters. Our plan is to find other relevant LinkedIn Learning Pathways to expand the number of options for students. We will continue to make enhancements on the delivery method to maximize the benefits of these LinkedIn Learning pathways for students.

AU - Aysa Galbraith
AU - Heath Aren Schluterman
AU - Gretchen Scroggin
AU - Latisha Puckett
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - WIP: The Missing Link? Providing Honors Students a Self-Paced Assignment That Fits Their Needs
UR - https://peer.asee.org/48319
ER -